Wide band gap semi-conducting materials such as zinc oxide and zinc sulfide, as well as their Cd-, Be-, Mn-, and Mg-doped variants find widespread application in the areas of optoelectronics, nanoelectronics, and semiconductors. Despite a broad interest, general synthetic methods to prepare such materials are lacking, due to at least two reasons. First, it is a significant challenge to ensure homogeneous and atomic-scale dispersion of the dopant atom(s) within the zinc oxide or zinc sulfide matrix. Second, it is difficult to prepare zinc oxides, zinc sulfides, or their metal-doped variants in a variety of physical formats such as powders, films, or wires. Moreover, most synthetic methods require stringent processing conditions (e.g., physical and chemical deposition methods), or exceedingly high temperatures.